Ohio State is the defending national champion, but after 30 minutes of football on New Year’s Eve night against Miami, the Buckeyes weren’t just getting shut out, they had fans and media questioning the whole College Football Playoff system.
Specifically, Ohio State had the college football world wondering if it was really worth it to get that first-round Playoff bye. It’s worth noting that all 4 higher seeds who earned Playoff byes last season lost their quarterfinal games, with rust as a possible factor with each team getting about a month off between the end of the regular season and the start of the Playoff.
Fast-forward to this season, and the trend was continuing in the quarterfinals for the higher seeds, albeit it was just 1 game and half of 1 game at that. Still, Ohio State trailed Miami, 14-0, at halftime, and the Hurricanes, who eliminated Texas A&M in the first round just 11 days ago, were the far more sharper team.
Meanwhile, Ohio State hadn’t played since losing to Indiana in the Big Ten title game way back on Dec. 6, so there’s that near-month-long layoff cropping up again. The Buckeyes didn’t have a bye last season, so they didn’t have to deal with this rust factor on their way to winning the national champioship.
But they do this time around, and that rust was clearly showing against the Canes.
Here is just a sampling of the social media reaction to Ohio State’s forgettable first half:
CFP has to eliminate first round byes, it’s an unfair advantage. I’m terrified we’re gonna see the higher seed win all 4 games against teams that had a bye again. Indiana is just too damn good and I hope almost a month off doesn’t make them flat vs bama
— Trey Hartlage (@treyhartlage) January 1, 2026Worth noting all four teams that had CFP byes last year lost quarterfinal games. Ohio State is doing little to reverse that trend in the first half tonight.
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) January 1, 2026The month long bye in the CFP is lowkey the kiss of death for championship hopes
— —————— (@yeeeeesirski) January 1, 2026Is the bye in the CFP really such a good thing
— Timmy (@TimmyLangFlame) January 1, 2026Alright maybe there shouldn’t be bye weeks in CFP lol 25 days is way too long
— DynastyZero (@DynastyZeroFF) January 1, 2026Do the teams without a bye do better in the CFP???
— Lauren (@LaurenF_Baby) January 1, 2026Looks like getting a CFP bye is a curse
— (@SpartyOn21) January 1, 2026No coach is EVER going to want a bye in the CFP after this season.5 straight teams have started sloooooowwww
— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) January 1, 2026The 16-team playoff is on Bye weeks in the CFP are dead#GoBucks #GoCanes #GoodyearCottonBowl
— Joshua Gitman (@JoshGitman) January 1, 2026Getting a bye in the CFP is bad we now have 4.5 games worth of proof.
— ReturnoftheAlexMack (@ReturnofAlexMac) January 1, 2026Still early but so far looking like having a bye in CFP *not* beneficial
— Alex (@PAlexONeil) January 1, 2026A bye in the CFP is death.
— Jerod Smalley (@JerodNBC4) January 1, 2026Ohio State’s slow start has fans, media questioning CFP first-round bye Saturday Down South.
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